Saamy Square review: Vikram-starrer just half as good as its prequel Saamy

Saamy Square, the title of director Hari's much awaited sequel to his blockbuster with Vikram, Saamy, might have promised twice the dosage of thrills, action, drama and fun but what it ends up delivering is only half the entertainment of what the first part provided.

In other words, Saamy Square, the sequel to the blockbuster, Saamy, is a just about okay entertainer that has enough thrills in it to keep one entertained, but that fails to meet all of the huge expectations that fans had from the franchise.

The sequel is a proper continuation of Saamy. Only this time, the son of the hero of Saamy takes on the sons of the villains in the first film.

Ramasamy (Vikram), the son of Aaruchamy (Vikram's character in Saamy) is a civil service aspirant who also works for union minister Viswanathan (Prabhu). Preparing for Civil Services itself is quite a task but not for our hero, who works for the minister and also has time to perform weddings (he is a purohit or priest as well) as well.

Ramasamy, we are told, has been brought up by his grandparents, who, in a bid to keep him from getting into the police force, have lied to him about his real parents. Nevertheless, at one point, Ramasamy, who clears the civil services exams, picks the IPS over the IAS and ends up returning home as an IPS officer, much to the dismay of his grandfather (Delhi Ganesh). What's more, he gets posted to Tirunelveli, a place his father Aaruchamy was posted as superintendent.

Realising he shouldn't keep his grandson in the dark anymore, his grandparents tell him who his real parents are and how they died. They tell him that Aaruchamy (Vikram's character in Saamy) was a fearless police officer, who was killed along with his pregnant wife by Mahendra Pichai, Devendra Pichai and Ravana Pichai, the three sons of Perumal Pichai (Kota Srinivasa Rao's character in Saamy) as revenge for killing their father. They tell him that his father, despite being stabbed, managed to save him before breathing his last.

They tell him that soon after Perumal Pichai's death, his three sons, who were in Sri Lanka, were hurt by the news that their father had fled for his life and died a coward. To disprove this theory, Ravana Pichai (Bobby Simhaa), the last of the three brothers, arrived in Tirunelveli and soon took over from where his father left off. The brothers had now made money through goondaism and by transferring black money of big politicians and industrialists from one part of the country to another part.

The 28-year-old Ramasamy looks to get justice for his murdered parents. He also looks to bring back law and order in Tirunelveli, a place which is completely in the control of Ravana Pichai and his brothers.

A full-fledged war begins between Ramasamy, the son of Aaruchamy, and the three sons of Perumal Pichai, who have now grown in stature and power. Who wins and how is what the story is all about.

There are three factors that work in favour of Saamy Square. The first is the pace at which the story is narrated. Despite a convoluted script, director Hari keeps the pace of the narration brisk. As a result, you actually don't feel bored at any given point in time. The only time you get annoyed is when comedian Soori comes on screen. That is because Soori's jokes are terrible and completely off the mark. Instead of lightening the mood, the pressure on the audience increases because of his insipid jokes. It also kind of hampers the pace of the narration, one of the strong factors in favour of the film.

The next big strength of the film is Vikram's portrayal of Ramasamy. When Vikram played Saamy, he was 15 years younger. That was because the first film of the Saamy franchise was released in 2003. To be able to maintain the same physique 15 years later and play a character that is much younger than the one he played in Saamy, requires some effort. Vikram has done an exceptional job in this regard. He sports the same impressive physique and more or less manages to deliver the same impactful performance he delivered in Saamy. He carries the film on his shoulders effortlessly and his performance is one of the reasons the film shines.

The third factor is actually something that is subjective in nature and that works partly in favour of the film. It is the chemistry between Diya (Keerthy Suresh) the daughter of union minister Viswanathan (Prabhu), and Ramasamy. Some of the romantic sequences between the couple are really cute, but some of it is exaggerated and seems terrible.

On the flip side, the director exaggerates certain sequences to such lengths that they have a big impact on the credibility of the plot.

Consider this, Ramasamy waits for his interview at the UPSC office. Just before going in for his interview, he collides with a police officer and then, has a change of heart after his collision. He chooses .IPS over IAS in the interview!

Then, again, there is a sequence in the film in which Ramasamy, after assuming charge as the SP of Tirunelveli, decides to remove a statue of Perumal Pichai installed by his son. The District Collector, an IAS officer, questions him about the move and you find Ramasamy lecturing the collector about how he was qualified to be an IAS and how he chose IPS and therefore, the collector was nobody to tell him what to do and what not to do!

There's more! When Diya (Keerthy Suresh), the daughter of a cabinet minister who is studying abroad comes back to India, she gets easily kidnapped by the Pichai gang members! Of course, she gets rescued by the hero, but what is interesting is that in real life, all members of the family of a cabinet minister have adequate protection accorded to them. In this film though, the minister himself gets killed at one point because of lack of adequate security! We could go on and on about such instances in the film.

While Saamy had several hit songs which played an important role in making the film a blockbuster, Saamy Square has only one song that is hummable. 'Athiroobaney' is probably the only number that has recall value.

The verdict is simple. If audiences go to theatres expecting Saamy Square to be as thrilling as Saamy, they are bound to get disappointed. However, if they choose to go watch it without drawing comparisons, they are likely to find it as a decent entertainer.